Romantic candlelit dinner for Four

So as I mentioned in my February 9th post, we all got the stomach flu of Joel's birthday. So I didn't make his birthday dinner, instead I saved everything and made it for Valentines day. (Joel and I don't go out to eat Valentine's day, as the first time we did Joel was so tired the next morning he backed his truck into my car door, on his way to work) Joel is really a humble guy, and never likes a fuss being made about him, so it really took me quite a long time getting out of him what he wanted for his birthday dinner. I thought he would ask for something fancy like Steak and twice baked potatoes (those in my opinion are restively easy), but instead he searched through his mind, and asked for every item of food I would not normally make, but would have to cause it was his birthday dinner.

The Menu:

Meatballs (Homemade not frozen, like mom makes with onion) this was downgraded from Meatloaf which he knows I absolutely hate, as it has the look and consistency of canned cat food.

Brown Gravy

Rice

Broccoli with cheese sauce

Salad with Iceberg lettuce (we all now Romain is tastier and more nutritious), Crumbled Egg, Bacon, tomato (yuck), and Croutons, but not garlic flavored, just regular croutons. ( I was really surprised he didn't ask me to go out and plant wheat and harvest it to make bread to make into croutons)

Bread

German chocolate cake with Penuche Icing (this is Really Yummy)

Have I ever told any of you I have two burners on my stove, which can make meal prep of a complicated meal like this a little tricky.

The Meatballs turned out Okay, I added a little too much milk to them and ended up adding more breadcrumbs. These were an easy entree, that I have never made from scratch, but since it was so easy, I think I will start trying and tweaking new recipes to find a family favorite.

Gravy was just packet gravy, since my two burners prevented me from making anything more too time consuming or complicated. It was good for that night, but again I think I will try recipes when I have more time (and burners) to try sauce out.

Broccoli with Cheese sauce was Yummy, but the cheese sauce was just Velveeta, again due to burner constrictions. I can and have made basic cheese sauce and would have done so if I had not had the time and and burner constraint.

Salad was yummy even if it was lacking in nutrition you would have gotten from romaine, spinach, or spring mix (which Joel affectionately calls weeds).

The Piece De Resistance the Cake. Joel told me this was the Best German Chocolate cake he had ever had. The cake was moist (and in my opinion got better the next day). The caramel coconut pecan icing was sweet, but not too sweet. I must give thanks to Betty Crocker as she as come through on this recipe yet again. The recipe calls to make 3 layers in 8 or 9 inch size, but I found my Heart shaped pans which said they were 8 inch, but I am sure they were a little smaller, cause I was able to get 4 layers. Instead of making a massive layer cake I decided to make two 2-layer cakes side by side. It turned out very well, but a lot of cake for the two of us to eat. So we took it over to friends Saturday and it was every bit as good, not stale or dried out at all.

So it wasn't a romantic candlelit dinner for two, it was a Tuesday night candlelit dinner for 4, which was fun for our little family. Although I won't say I wouldn't like to got out for a fancy meal, I will say I do Love cooking for my Boys, knowing that someday they will hold my recipes in high esteem and call me up a few days before their visit home saying "Mom would you mind making ... while I am home, no one make it quite like you do"

Fun Fact: From pink breakfast pancakes to dinner that evening we used 10 eggs (no we didn't have eggs for breakfast), 7 were seperated, 1 hard boiled and rest just cracked in. We also used 3/4 pound of butter, not including what we spread on bread and pancakes.